Communications DG deadline looms

Communications minister Roy Padayachie has just a day left to meet a self-imposed deadline to appoint a new director-general at the department of communications.

Rumours are already circulating about who may get the job — a former communications deputy director-general, Pakamile Pongwana, is said to be a contender — though it’s not clear if the department will make the appointment in time to meet Padayachie’s deadline.

The minister had previously said he wanted the position to be filled by 31 March.

Cabinet met on Wednesday, but it’s not known if the communications department post was discussed.

The director-general job has been vacant since the departure last year of Mamodupi Mohlala. Mohlala had a spectacular falling out with Siphiwe Nyanda, who was later fired as communications minister by President Jacob Zuma.

Zuma recently called for vacant director-general positions across government to be filled as soon as possible.

Since the departure of Mohlala, who is now head of the National Consumer Commission, Harold Wesso has filled in in an acting capacity at the department.

It’s not yet clear who will get the director-general job, though TechCentral understands from sources close to the department that Pongwana, currently a Vodacom regulatory affairs executive, is in the running for the post.

Pongwana was a deputy director-general at the department under former director-general Andile Ngcaba, who is now chairman of Dimension Data SA.

It’s understood Ngcaba favoured Pongwana to take over from him when he left the department, but the job eventually went to Lyndall Shope-Mafole.

“I’d rather not say anything right now,” is all Pongwana would say when contacted by TechCentral for comment on Wednesday.

Another name that has been mentioned as a contender for the post is Rosy Sekese, currently a deputy director-general at the department. — Duncan McLeod, TechCentral